Method for performing an inquiry in a telecommunications network

ABSTRACT

The invention concerns a method for performing an inquiry in a telecommunications network, in which the inquiry is carried out in the following steps: —creating a database of persons, —forming and recording the questions, —selecting from the database a set satisfying desired conditions, —sending the inquiry in the form of text messages (SMS, Short Message Service) to the persons included in the set, —receiving text message replies for a predetermined length of time, —storing and interpreting each reply, so that, according to each set criterion, the question arranged to be the next one is sent to the same person, —generating a report.

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for performing aninquiry in a telecommunications network, in which method the inquiry iscarried out in the following steps:

[0002] creating a database of persons,

[0003] forming and recording the questions,

[0004] selecting from the database a set satisfying desired conditions,

[0005] sending the inquiry to the persons included in the set,

[0006] receiving replies for a predetermined length of time,

[0007] storing and interpreting each reply,

[0008] generating a report.

[0009] At present, inquiries are performed either by mailing aquestionnaire and receiving replies or via an interactive interview(e.g. by telephone or face to face). Handling and analyzing the repliesmanually takes up an unreasonable amount of labor resources and/or time.

[0010] The international patent proceeding WO98/09451 has presented aGallup poll method based on text message inquiries. In this method theinquiry is sent in the form of an SMS message essentially simultaneouslyto the communication stations of two separate recipients via a servicecenter that utilizes wireless data transfer. Then the recipients entertheir replies into the inquiry message and send a reply message in theform of an SMS message back to the data system of the sender, in whichit is processed in a predetermined way.

[0011] The object of the present invention is to achieve an improvedmethod for performing an inquiry using SMS messages. The featurescharacteristic of the method of the invention are presented in claim 1below. When an inquiry is performed in a telecommunications network bythe method of the invention, considerable advantages will be achieved.In addition to the fact that the questions can be sent and received by asoftware-controlled technique using an SMS (Short Message Service)communications network, the progress of the inquiry for the part of eachrespondent can be controlled in accordance with a set criterion.Preferably, the results of the inquiry are produced and updated on adisplay device in real time, expressly as an HTML page, which is easy tomonitor via the information network.

[0012] In the following, the method will be described with reference tothe attached drawings illustrating the method and giving a functionalblock diagram of it.

[0013]FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the method,

[0014]FIG. 2 presents a functional block diagram of the method,

[0015]FIG. 3 presents the real-time result of an inquiry.

[0016] In FIG. 1, a server 10 is used to maintain a database 11consisting of information relating to persons 12, including SMScommunication address data (generally a mobile telephone number). Theserver is also used to run an SMS inquiry application 13. Via channels16 and 17, the server 10 communicates both with a telecommunicationsoperator 14 and with a workstation 18 controlling the server via remoteoperation. Using SMS techniques 15, the telecommunications operator 14communicates with a person 19 belonging to a subset 13 formed from thedatabase on the basis of certain conditions.

[0017] The service uses preferably several telecommunications operators14′. Each of these operators, utilizing SMS techniques 15′, is incontact with his own subscribers and via channels 16′ with the server10.

[0018] The system provides the respondent preferably with a free SMS snumber. A service has been ordered from each telecommunicationsoperator, in which the text messages sent to the same reply number aresent to the server 10 via the said channels 16 and 16′.

[0019] The text messages received by each telecommunications operatorare sent (channels 16, 16′) to a chosen IP address (IP=InternetProtocol) on the Internet, this IP address being the above-mentionedserver 10, on which the received text messages are transferred into thedatabase with a special application. For example the Finnish operatorSONERA offers a service like this under the name of “Content Gateway”.It includes a software installed on the server, which communicates withthe text message center, and on the other hand is connected with thechosen database via AP interface. A corresponding service is orderedfrom each operator. In this case the “Content Gateway” software storesthe text messages on the server as files, which are brought into thedatabase by another application at fixed intervals. The database isutilized by a statistical application, which is now able to present theresults of the inquiry e.g. in a real-time bar chart.

[0020] Preferably the real-time application is formed on the HTTP serverconnected with the Internet or the Extranet, which can naturally be theabove-mentioned server 10. The graphic bar chart is realized simply asan HTML page, on which the height of the bars is determined by theupdated data. An HTML page like this can easily be monitored throughoutthe whole information network with the help of browsers. The userdownloads the page manually at fixed intervals. When desired anautomatic updating, the page may be provided with an update command(REFRESH), which updates the page automatically.

[0021] The action of the invention represented by the block diagram inFIG. 2 is as follows. In step 1, a database of information relating topersons, including communication address data 11, is created on theserver 10 to allow SMS communication. Step 2 starts the inquiry, and atfirst steps 3 and 4 are executed concurrently. In step 3, a subsetsatisfying desired demographic conditions is selected from the database,and the identification data relating to this subset are stored on theserver 10. In step 4, the questions to be presented in the inquiry aregenerated and stored on the server 10. From the questions, text messagesfor the selected set 13 are formed and stored on the server 10 in step4.1 and, based on the identification data, the communication addressdata for each person is retrieved for the transmission of the textmessage. In step 5, the text messages are transmitted by thetelecommunications operator 14 over the SMS communication network 15 toeach person.

[0022] The person 19 belonging to the subset 13 receives in hiscommunication station an unambiguous question and alternatives for areply (e.g. “Yes” or “No”) to it, together with a reply address to whichthe reply is to be sent. The reply address is generally the sender's(server's) telephone number, making it possible to utilize the fastconventional “Reply to Sender” text message function. In step 6, theserver 10 receives replies from the subset 13 for a predetermined lengthof time and sends them further to the SMS inquiry application 13, whichwill interpret them and store them in the database 11. In step 7, theSMS inquiry application converts the received replies into anunambiguous form (e.g. YES, Y=>“1”), and in step 8 an examination ofconditions is performed in accordance with a set criterion. For example,if the reply so requires, the inquiry is discontinued for the part ofthe communication address data in question or alternatively theprocedure is carried on to step 5, transmission of a text message, forthe next question. According to step 9, the system remains waiting forreplies from the persons for a predetermined length of time, whereuponthe question can be sent again to persons who did not reply (secondcriterion).

[0023] The progress of the inquiry and the results produced can bemonitored in real time during the inquiry via the display device 18′ ofa remotely operated workstation 18. In steps 10 and 11, a statisticalreport is generated from the stored replies as a continuous functionduring the inquiry or after its completion. Real-time monitoring of theresults provides the possibility to end the inquiry at a desired point.

[0024] Future third-generation telecommunications networks will probablyallow the use of some other short message system instead of the SMS.

[0025] The next example presents the HTML (hypertext markup language)code used for a graphic presentation. This graphic presentation can beapplied both in a one-phase and a multi-phased inquiry. The height(“HEIGHT=276” and “HEIGHT=24”) of the bars on the HTML page and thetotal amount of the respondents (“Total answers 162”) are parameters,which are changed when updating the page. The size of the page is sominimal that it is very quickly updated by the server 10 handling theinquiry(or the same server). The code of the page includes an updatecommand, which allows the viewer's browser to download the page everyfive minutes. FIG. 3 presents an example of a printout produced by thiscode.

[0026] <HTML>

[0027] <HEAD>

[0028] <META HTTP-EQUIV=“Refresh”

[0029]CONTENT=“300;URL=http://wwwv.mobilemirror.fi/tulosdemo/output.html”>

[0030] <TITLE>Inquiry results</TITLE>

[0031] </HEAD>

[0032] <BODY BGCOLOR=#ffffff>

[0033] <CENTER>

[0034] <TABLE BORDER=1>

[0035] <TR>

[0036] <TH COLSPAN=2 ALIGN=center>Question 1.</TH>

[0037] </TR>

[0038] <TR ALIGN=center>

[0039] <TD HEIGHT=300 VALIGN=bottom><IMG SRC=green.jpg WIDTH=40HEIGHT=276 ALT=“A 92%”>

[0040] <TD HEIGHT=300 VALIGN=bottom><IMG SRC=red.jpg WIDTH=40 HEIGHT=24ALT=“B 8%”>

[0041] </TR>

[0042] <TR>

[0043] <TD>A=92%</TD>

[0044] <TD>B=8%</TD>

[0045] </TR>

[0046] <TR ALIGN=center>

[0047] <TD COLSPAN=2>

[0048] Total</BR>

[0049] answers</BR>

[0050] 162

[0051] </TD>

[0052] </TR>

[0053] </TABLE>

[0054] <CENTER>

[0055] </BODY>

1. Method for performing an inquiry wirelessly in a telecommunicationsnetwork, in which the inquiry is carried out in the following steps:creating a database of persons with demographic data, forming andstoring the questions, transcribing the questions into SMS messagesaccording to the specifications of a telecommunications networkapplicable in SMS (Short Message Service) communication, selecting fromthe database a set satisfying desired demographic conditions, sendingthe formed SMS message via the telecommunications network to the personsincluded in the set, receiving replies via the SMS message service for apredetermined length of time, storing and interpreting each reply,generating a report characterized in that each reply is interpreted and,according to a each set criterion the question arranged to be the nextone is sent to the same person.
 2. Method as defined in claim 1,characterized in that the replies received are converted into anunambiguous form.
 3. Method as defined in claim 1 or 2, characterized inthat, according to a set second criterion, the question isretransmitted.
 4. Method as defined in one of claims 1-3, characterizedin that the replies received and the actions provoked by them arehandled by software in a server adapted for this purpose.
 5. Method asdefined in claim 4, characterized in that the server maintaining thesystem is operated by remote control from a workstation.
 6. Method asdefined in claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the replies are processedstatistically.
 7. Method as defined in claim 5 or 6, characterized inthat the results of the inquiry are produced and updated on a display lodevice in real time.
 8. Method as defined in any of the claims 1-7,characterized in that the SMS messages are sent to a chosen IP address(IP=Internet Protocol) on the Internet, this IP address being on thementioned server, on which the received SMS messages will be transferredto the database with a special application.
 9. Method as defined in anyof the claims 1-8, characterized in that the results are transferred toan updatable HTML page, so that the HTML page with its new result valuesis saved on the HTTP server at fixed intervals.